iSight for the Blind: iChatAV Opens Windows

Apple has shipped a public beta of iChatAV 2.1, including support for video conferencing with the AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows. It's iPod all over agai

Apple has shipped a public beta of iChatAV 2.1, including support for video conferencing with the AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows. Its iPod all over again. Everytime a Windows user hooks up to an iSight chat, theyll be evangelized to buy an iSight for their Windows machine. Of course, the secret sauce of iChatAV, the audio noise-canceling algorithms that turn IP videoconferencing from cool to usable, will only be optimized on an iSight-to-iSight connection. Lets see how long it takes for the iSight to do Windows.

Steve Gillmor is editor of eWEEK.com's Messaging & Collaboration Center. As a principal reviewer at Byte magazine, Gillmor covered areas including Visual Basic, NT open systems, Lotus Notes and other collaborative software systems. After stints as a contributing editor at InformationWeek Labs, editor in chief at Enterprise Development Magazine, editor in chief and editorial director at XML and Java Pro Magazines, he joined InfoWorld as test center director and columnist.